Here is the video of the 2012 State of the Union address. Obama talks about housing at minute mark 35:48 if you wanted to skip to that section.  Enjoy

Found this nice quote from a fellow blogger.

If We Keep doing the Same Thing; We Will Get the Same Results.Posted on July 11, 2011 by Jim McQueen

What have we learned in 2065 years?

“The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered & controlled, & the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. “People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.” – Cicero – 55 BC

http://www.themcqueengroup.net/?p=24

Word to our government;

Please before making laws and regulations, consult with a panel of experts from the industry and listen to the actual feed back before making laws and regulations. I know our representatives have tons of people telling them what to do……..but please seek out experts first……and not just a few, have a panel of them. Perfect example is the new GFE that went from 1 page to 3 pages. The GOOD thing is this form makes the fees stay within reason from the time of application to closing so no surprise fees for borrowers. The BAD thing is you forgot to check how different states collect certain fees and the buyers actually get a credit for lets say taxes for the time the seller was living in the property. Also don’t forget FHA collects an upfront mortgage insurance fee up front that gets financed back into the mortgage amount if borrower chooses that option. Last thing, what if the seller was giving a credit on the sales contract? These credits do not show up on the GFE, so please fix it!

Well, here is a video the great guys at Thinkbigworksmall did about HR 600 House bill that is taking us right back to where we were doing loans before. Please make up your mind……seller to help the buyer out for down payment and closing costs or not help the buyer……..let us know please Mr. Government.

Reinstating Seller Paid Down Payment Assitance

Finally, after the long journey, home buyers that had a sales contract signed by April 30th now have until September 30th to close on their transaction. It came down to the wire as this was an amendment on HR 4213 “The Unemployment Bill”, then after a couple of political maneuvers had separate bills created for just unemployment benefits extension and tax credit extension. Last night looks like the Senate did a unanimous vote to send this bill to the presidents desk for signing into law before going on break until July 12th. The unemployment bill however got tabled and nothing will happen on that until the Senate comes back.

So, now everyone who still has a signed sales contract before April 30th, I would suggest getting your deals closed before September 30th! Hope this helps, and below is another article from the Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100701-705302.html

Since the Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension is attached to bill HR 4213 which is the unemployment bill, there are several hurdles along the way. Currently one of the hurdles is coming from Sen. Tom Coburn (R, OK) and he is using a procedure known as a “Clay Pigeon” which would split the amendments of the bill into 20 separate pieces and would cause voting to take place 20 different times. This slows down the process for approval and could open the door for losing supporting votes. Here is a good website to see updated status of this bill. Hope this helps

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1924-Coburn-Now-Using-Arcane-Procedure-to-Stall-Unemployment-Bill

Yes, the Senate has moved the tax credit extension on to the next steps allowing borrowers until September 30th to get financing on their sales contracts they got before the April 30th date. If anyone has already closed though, they can go to the direct links at Tax Forms to print them out and follow the instructions to get your tax credit. Below is a good article explaining what is taking place, hope this helps!

Just wanted to highlight this part of the article though:

“Reid, D-Nev., added the proposal to a bill extending jobless benefits through the end of November. Nevada has the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, and Reid is facing a tough re-election campaign.

That’s right, their was a bill introduced Thursday that could extend out the cut off date for the loan to close from June 30th to September 30th 2010. Also from this Wall Street Journal article you can see why the extension would be needed for making sure the closing date is met. The caution I put on this is still treat your closing as it MUST get closed by June 30th because this option proposed to extend the date is attached to a bill that is getting a lot of push back for getting the votes to move through congress. The article below is a good one from WSJ and here is another link to CNNMoney about the same subject. Hope you Enjoy   Don’t forget to print out those IRS forms……just head over to TAX CREDIT FORMS with direct links to the forms on the IRS website.  

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/10/real_estate/housing_credit_extension/index.htm

Congress Considers Tax-Credit Extension for Some Home Buyers

The Wall Street Journal

By NICK TIMIRAOS 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703627704575298610215024500.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Congress is considering an extension for would-be home buyers who are racing to close home sales in order to receive a federal tax credit.

The real-estate industry has warned that tens of thousands of buyers who rushed to buy homes to qualify might not close before the deadline imposed by Congress, meaning they could miss out on receiving credits worth thousands of dollars without action from Congress.

Congress last fall extended an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and added a smaller $6,500 credit for current homeowners who were buying a primary residence. To qualify for the credit, buyers had to sign purchase contracts by April 30 and must close on the transaction by June 30.

But there are so many transactions in the pipeline that the companies responsible for handling the sales, including mortgage lenders, appraisers and title insurers and real-estate brokers, say the last-minute home-buying rush in April has created bottlenecks.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said he would back a measure to extend the June 30 closing date to Sept. 30 for buyers who had met the April contract deadline.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that between 55,000 and 75,000 home buyers who are under contract won’t be able to close in time to claim the tax credit. The trade group is lobbying Congress to extend the June 30 deadline only for those buyers who met the April deadline.

“Everybody who got under contract at the end of April deserves to get the tax credit,” says Stephen Adamo, president of Weichert Financial Services, a division of real-estate brokerage Weichert Realtors. “For reasons out of their control, they’re in jeopardy of losing it.”

That is causing heartburn for buyers like Alan Nickelson, a first-time home buyer who went into contract on a three-bedroom home in Kent, Wash., days before the tax-credit deadline in April. While he was pre-approved for a loan and will make a 20% down payment on the $275,000 home, he says the transaction has been held up because of home inspections and work repairs required by the appraiser.

Mr. Nickelson says it is “entirely possible” that he will miss out on the tax credit. He says he would have bought the home anyway but that he planned to use the $8,000 credit to offset repair costs. “It was icing on the cake, but it was really sweet icing,” says the 52-year-old machinist.

One particular worry is that short sales, where a lender allows a home to sell for less than the amount owed, won’t receive requisite approvals in time to meet the closing deadline. Unlike normal sales where only two parties—the buyer and the seller—negotiate the price, short sales are more time-consuming affairs because they require note-holders to agree on price.

“From February on, I told people, you have no chance” of finishing a short sale by June 30, says Steve Capen, a real-estate agent in St. Petersburg, Fla. But he says clients who have been pursuing deals before that could miss the deadline.

Real-estate agents say that even “plain-vanilla” transactions are increasingly at risk. Response times from loan officers and appraisers have doubled over the past month, says Kailee Rainey, who works for a Seattle-based real-estate brokerage.

Lee Barrett, president of Century 21 Barrett, a real-estate firm in Las Vegas, spent part of the week in Washington meeting with his congressional delegation about the need to extend the closing deadline. “The lenders are overwhelmed. The title companies are overwhelmed,” he says. “It’s just a mad surge of everybody trying to close deals.”

At Wells Fargo& Co., employees from other sales divisions are being brought in to handle mortgages, and staffs are working weekends and nights to process higher volumes. “It’s all hands on deck,” says Greg Gwizdz, an executive vice president at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. He says the bank has prioritized “every customer who qualified for the tax credit.”

A spokeswoman for Bank of America Corp. says the lender is also placing “increased priority” on loan applications submitted before the April 30 deadline. Luke Hayden, president of PHH Mortgage, a lender based in Mount Laurel, N.J., says consumers can help speed the process along by being “very responsive to requests for documentation” from lenders.

Some of the delay reflects new rules related to disclosure and appraisal requirements enacted to correct the excesses of the bubble years. The new regulations have prompted lenders to take extra caution at every step, stretching closing timelines.

The tax incentive was credited with boosting existing-home sales in April by 23% from year-earlier levels, according to the NAR, while new-home sales gained by 47.8% from one year ago, according to government figures.

It is unclear how many sales would fall through for those who miss out on the tax credit. Buyers could be hard-pressed to void sales contracts unless they have made their closing contingent on receiving the tax credit or are willing to forgo any deposits.

An extension would benefit Kalliopi Michalopoulou, a first-time home buyer who went into contract in February and agreed to put 25% down on a $580,000 three-bedroom cooperative apartment in Upper Manhattan. Her pre-approval for the loan expired last month after renovations took longer than expected to complete.

“I’m so close to canceling now the contract because I’m so upset,” she says. “If I knew I was going to get the tax credit, I wouldn’t mind that much. But this feels like a punishment.”

Yes this is true that this special benefit was extended……..for members of the military and certain other federal employees serving outside the U.S. have an extra year to buy a principal residence on or before April 30, 2011. Basically it will be the same set up as it currently is for all home-buyers, sales contract by April 30, 2011 and close by June 30, 2011. Just so you guys know about the current home-buyer tax credit just out these summary’s below and strongly encourage you go double check the main guidelines from the IRS and get the forms. I have all this summarized for you at the previous post about updated tax forms.

Summary on Current Home-buyer Tax Credit:

1. First-Time Homebuyer claim up to $8,000 credit or 10% of sales price which ever is the lower of the two. A first-time homebuyer is an individual (and that individual’s spouse if married) who has not owned another main home during the 3-year period ending on the purchase date and meets other requirements discussed in the Form 5405 instructions.

2. Long-time resident can claim up to $6500 credit or 10% of sales price which ever is the lower of the two. A long-time resident is an individual (and that individuals spouse if married) who has owned and used the same home as that individuals main home for any 5-consecutive-year period during the 8-year period ending on the purchase date of the new main home and meets other requirements discussed in the Form 5405  instructions.

Below is the direct wording from the IRS.gov site talking about the home-buyer tax credit extension for military and certain other federal employees. Hope this helps

Looks like the new form came out just in time for all the new home buyers that will be taking advantage of the governments extention of the tax credit. As post about the details for this tax credit before from Homebuyer Tax Credit, I have put direct links to the IRS website for your easy access to the forms and exact guidelines directly from the IRS.

Hope this helps, have a glorious day!

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=218336,00.html?portlet=7

Yes, got this wonderful information for everyone directly from the IRS.gov site so you will have none of the he said, she said going on. Also have a couple of key website links for your information so make sure to click on them as you read. Hope this helps

From IRS.gov

Updated Nov. 6, 2009, to reflect new legislation — more to be added soon

New Legislation

New legislation, the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which was signed into law on Nov. 6, 2009, extends and expands the first-time homebuyer credit allowed by previous Acts. The new law:

• Extends deadlines for purchasing and closing on a home.
• Authorizes the credit for long-time homeowners buying a replacement principal residence.
• Raises the income limitations for homeowners claiming the credit.  

Under the new law, an eligible taxpayer must buy, or enter into a binding contract to buy, a principal residence on or before April 30, 2010 and close on the home by June 30, 2010. For qualifying purchases in 2010, taxpayers have the option of claiming the credit on either their 2009 or 2010 return.  

For the first time, long-time homeowners who buy a replacement principal residence may also claim a homebuyer credit of up to $6,500 (up to $3,250 for a married individual filing separately). They must have lived  in the same principal residence for any five-consecutive year period during the eight-year period that ended on the date the replacement home is purchased.

People with higher incomes can now qualify for the credit. The new law raises the income limits for homes purchased after Nov. 6, 2009. The credit phases out for individual taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) between $125,000 and $145,000 or between $225,000 and $245,000 for joint filers. The existing MAGI phase-outs of $75,000 to $95,000 or $150,000 to $170,000 for joint filers still apply to purchases on or before Nov. 6, 2009.

General Information

Homebuyers who purchased a home in 2008 or 2009 may be able to take advantage of the first-time homebuyer credit. The credit:

• Applies only to homes used as a taxpayer’s principal residence.
• Reduces a taxpayer’s tax bill or increases his or her refund, dollar for dollar.
• Is fully refundable, meaning the credit will be paid out to eligible taxpayers, even if they owe no tax or the credit is more than the tax owed.

The credit is claimed using Form 5405, which you file with your original or amended tax return.

For 2008 Home Purchases

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 established a tax credit for first-time homebuyers that can be worth up to $7,500. For homes purchased in 2008, the credit is similar to a no-interest loan and must be repaid in 15 equal, annual installments beginning with the 2010 income tax year.

For 2009 Home Purchases

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 expanded the first-time homebuyer credit by increasing the credit amount to $8,000 for purchases made in 2009 before Dec. 1.

For home purchased in 2009, the credit does not have to be paid back unless the home ceases to be the taxpayer’s main residence within a three-year period following the purchase.

First-time homebuyers who purchase a home in 2009 can claim the credit on either a 2008 tax return, due April 15, 2009, or a 2009 tax return, due April 15, 2010. The credit may not be claimed before the closing date. But, if the closing occurs after April 15, 2009, a taxpayer can still claim it on a 2008 tax return by requesting an extension of time to file or by filing an amended return. News release 2009-27 has more information on these options.

Again, Hope this helps